Nothing to do, everything postponed. Palazzo Chigi announces that “the Council of Ministers scheduled for today will be held in the coming days”. The government is expected to approve the decree tonight to release 40 billion to be used for the payment of some debts of the public administration. The meeting of the CDM had already been postponed from 10 to 19, but in the early afternoon the Minister of Economy Vittorio Grilli, in agreement with the Minister of Economic Development Corrado Passera, "reminded the Prime Minister of the opportunity to continue the details necessary to define the text of the decree".
Meanwhile, this morning the mystery related to the possible advance of theincrease in the additional personal income tax. The measure was contained in a draft of the decree circulated yesterday: in the evening Grilli had explained that the law would not appear in the definitive text, but the clarification was not sufficient to prevent the controversies of the parties and social partners from flaring up today. This morning, therefore, the confirmation arrived: the heavy tax will exist, but only starting from 2014, as envisaged by the decree on fiscal federalism.
The text circulated yesterday, on the other hand, allowed the Regions that will use cash advances to increase the additional Irpef rate up to a maximum of 2013% as early as 0,6, thus raising the ceiling from the current 1,73 to 2,33 .XNUMX%.
"According to the resolutions approved yesterday in Parliament, the increase in taxes for citizens is not in the records - said this morning on Rai 3 Michel Martone, Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Policies - also because there was a position very strong of all parties. These are journalistic indiscretions ”.
According to the elements collected so far on the content of the text being examined by the government, the refunds should go first to the companies, favoring the oldest invoices, then to the banks.
The first half of payments will come this year, the second in 2014. In all, it is about 19 billion from the municipalities, 14 from the local health authorities and 7 from the central state. Approximately 215 companies will benefit, which according to Unimpresa have an average credit of 422 euros.
It is anticipated a relaxation of the internal stability pact to allow Municipalities and Regions to immediately spend up to a maximum of 5 billion already in hand. Furthermore, a fund will be set up with an allocation of three billion for 2013 and five for 2014 in favor of administrations with insufficient resources to pay off debts. The loans must be repaid in deferred installments up to a maximum of 30 years.
Of the 20 billion euro envisaged for 2013, a significant portion will be destined for investments: around seven billion not yet accounted for, which will be financed by increasing the 2013 deficit-GDP ratio at 2,9%, against the 2,4% initially expected. The new figure is in any case lower than the Maastricht parameters (3%) and should allow the closure of the European procedure against our country for excessive deficit. On the other hand, yesterday the European Union announced that Italy will not be granted any extension to return within the limits. “2,9% is an insurmountable threshold”, underlined Grilli.
as to financial coverage of the entire package, the Government aims to find the resources to ensure the necessary liquidity through government bond issues up to a maximum of 25 billion for each of the years 2013 and 2014. There is also a clause for the ministries, called to cover the higher interest rates on the public debt with new linear cuts.
